Arsene Wenger’s recent comments on the status of Lukas Podolski in the Arsenal first team was one that would fit well with the ‘Keep Calm’ picture notes, yet it might have been nothing more than a political statement.

The German International has cut something of a frustrated figure in and around the Emirates, seemingy falling out of favour in the selection for matchday stating XI’s, with just the one competitive start in the League Cup defeat to Southampton. His lethargic performance in that game, combined with some postures that have been interpreted as portraying indifference and a loss of interest – the shinpad hunt comes readily to mind – have given weight to the suggestion that the 29-year old is all but bound for an exit from Arsenal, possibly sooner than later, in the coming window.

Wenger has moved to debunk such claims, mustering all of his baritone to state the relevance of the player to the Arsenal cause this campaign.

“It is quite simple, there is no transfer market at the moment. When there is no transfer market, you are all on board – or not on boar. It is like that.” Wenger said.

“This is a job where you can only be successful if you’re fully committed. You cannot be half in and half out, so all this transfer speculation is not considered at all.”

With direct reference to Podolski, the manager added: “We are all on board to get results, and Podolski will b part of that.”

This may have been Wenger trying to respond to Podolski persistent complaints about his situation, threatening to rethink his commitment for the Red Army if things do not improve.

Podolski stated: “If my situation doesn’t change, I’ll have to think about leaving in the winter. I don’t like sitting on the bench. I am 29 and I want to play. I will speak with the manager and then see what happens.”

Now we have two players who have made public their discontent with sitting on the bench, both usually used on the left wing by Wenger, but while one has scored 5 goals in as many games, this being just his first season, the other has really struggled to make any impact in games this season and is actually 4 years older with a little less variety in his play.

Podolski’s continuous stay, of course, doesn’t depend on Alexis Sanchez but on the fact that he is perhaps not of the standard we have graduated to from when he joined in 2012.

He came with Giroud and Cazorla as a renovation team after we had lost Van Persie, Fabregas and Nasri about 12 months before. With an impressive 16 goals scored at relegated Cologne, he was ‘good enough’ at the time, but considering the ambitions of the club going forward, you kind of figure how much of a ‘part’ of our getting results is Podolski going to be part of in the long-run.

In actual sense, going by Wenger’s word, we may only need him to play this part till December, when a window opens and bids could be welcomed. And that is most likely what will happen.

Ozil’s injury could see a possible change in his fortunes, if Cazorla is returned to the centre while he plays wide left. However, with Walcott’s return, we’d probably deploy a 4-3-3, which would see Alexis and Theo flank Welbeck, leaving no space for Poldi.

In truth, his best season was his first, in which he scored very many goals, and assisted a lot too. He is easily one of the players who keep the dressing room lively and so the team spirit which has seen brought about a flourishing togetherness between the players could be attributed to him in part. He’s also identified very much with the fans, while his tweetography reveals a passionate Gooner. Yet, he’s a footballer and must do all his talking on the pitch, helping the team win games, scoring or making them.

At the moment, even the tweets have been cupped in a cyst while the showing on the pitch has not got better.

You wonder if January won’t be a perfect time to say goodbye, especially if other Germans like Julian Draxler is available and is already on the verge of being captured.

He’s not showing signs of improvement; it doesn’t look like he’s getting into the team any time soon. He’s spoken about “blood”, “streets” and “solutions”, not exactly football-related terms but allusions to discontentment, the lamentations of a player with a hand on the exit knob.

Poldi is on his way out, and should be allowed to leave – sooner, than later.

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